In 1977 I traveled to Europe with two of my closest friends, Dan and Marc. We were all 20 or 21 years old and this was our first trip to another country with the exception of Mexico or Canada.

Marc's father owned a high end liquor store that specialized in wines, so he carried a pocket full of business cards that opened a lot of doors when we traveled through France.

The most memorable time we had was in Reims where we took a tour of the G.H. Mumm facility which is a world famous producer of champagne. When Marc flashed his business card, we were escorted out of the waiting tour group and were given a private tour with the assistant cellar master.

We went to a private room where she opened a bottle of Rene Lalou, which at the time was their top of the line brand. All of the rest of the tour group had Cordon Rouge, no slouch of a champagne, but no Rene Lalou either!

At the end of the bottle which the 3 of us shared, we were given the bottle as a souvenir. I somehow managed, perhaps fueled by the alcohol, to persuade her to give us some of the ash trays that were in the waiting room as additional souvenirs. The ash trays have the Cordon Rouge logo on them and one of them resides in my curio cabinet to this day to remind me of that great experience.

When visiting the Wine Country in California, I always manage to go to as many of the sparkling wine houses as I can to try and recapture that moment of my youth. Nothing like those bubbles....

traveler wrote:
When visiting the Wine Country in California, I always manage to go to as many of the sparkling wine houses as I can to try and recapture that moment of my youth. Nothing like those bubbles....

Neat story, traveler! Might it be time for another jaunt back to Reims for another bottle of that Lalou? (But maybe actually having to buy it this time). Sounds like a lot of fun!

The bubbles, indeed. Several years ago my husband watched a show on PBS where he learned alot about wine and champagne in particular. Especially on a summer night, we like to open a bottle and drink it under the moon. Nothing else quite like it.